1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to Push-To-Talk (PTT) communications, and more particularly, to a virtual Slide-to-Lock lock feature for communication devices running PTT applications.
2. Description of Related Art
In recent years, mobile communications and computing has become prevalent. More and more people are using mobile communication devices, such as smart phones and tablets, for a variety of reasons. In addition to conventional mobile telephony, individuals also use mobile communication devices for emailing, accessing the Internet, reading e-books, playing video games, and engaging in social networking, etc. Within social networking, PTT communication applications have become popular.
The Voxer® Walkie Talkie application, distributed by the assignee of the present application, is one well known PTT application, which runs on communication devices, such as smart phones, tablets and computers. With Voxer, a user is required to select a virtual “Hold-to-Talk” feature appearing on a screen of the communication device for the duration of a message. As the media of the message is created, the media is progressively stored and progressively streamed to the intended recipient(s), provided the Hold-to-Talk feature is selected. For further details on the Voxer application, see co-pending, commonly assigned, U.S. application Ser. No. 12/037,749, incorporated by reference herein for all purposes. Other known PTT applications also include a similar virtual PTT feature, which must be held for the duration of a message. These other PTT applications, however, are not progressive. Instead they rely on a store and forward protocol for first the recording of a message, and then the transmission of the message once it is complete.
Regardless of the type of PTT application, the need to continuously select a PTT feature (either Hold-to-Talk or a similar descriptor) is often problematic. For example, a user may inadvertently de-select the PTT feature in the middle of a message, causing an interruption or termination in the progressive storing and/or transmission of the media. As a result, the recipient(s) may receive an interrupted, partial, message. Also continuously holding the PTT feature is often inconvenient, particularly for a long period of time. The Voxer application, for example, is capable of supporting full-duplex communication, allowing two (or more) participants of a conversation to engage in near real-time communication, similar to a synchronous telephone call. Participants are therefore required to select the PTT feature for the entire duration of the full-duplex exchange, which may be inconvenient after a certain period of time.
The aforementioned Voxer® Walkie Talkie application includes an optional virtual “Talk” feature that may be used instead of the Hold-to-Talk feature. With the Talk feature, a user is required to initially select the virtual Talk feature to initiate the start of a message. When the message is complete, the Talk feature is de-selected, terminating the message. While convenient during near real-time, full-duplex, communication, the Talk feature has its own inconveniences. For example, the Talk feature is often inadvertently selected, causing the creation of “false” messages. If the user is unaware of the situation, a potentially long, data intensive, message that consumes bandwidth may be transmitted.